In talking with friends about it on Twitter, people immediately started DM-ing me, telling me that they felt left out or even LESS important because they weren’t on any lists. Lists are exclusionary by nature. They’re static. There’s a lot of reasons why they might not be all that pleasant for people.
Leif Enger, a Minnesota native, has recently released his second novel So Brave, Young, and Handsome. His first novel Peace Like a River was a giant success; undoubtedly, Enger was feeling the pressure when he penned the follow-up to his bestseller. Prior to buying this novel, I had read a review that indicated that Enger interweaves his struggles with writing a novel into the narrative. Having read a third of it already, the story does reflect how the protagonist Monte Beckett is himself a writer under pressure to repeat the successes of his original novel. Some might think that this self-referential theme is too pompous, or may overwhelm the story, but to me it is a window into how an artist disciplines himself in making the best art possible; Monte is not content in just replicating the original work.
Monte is tasked by his wife to write a thousand words a day, and he fails continually in meeting that goal. He has also failed at producing a second novel after several years of abandoning half-finished stories. Personally, I can identify with this character; what artist hasn’t given up on a work that originally showed promise? What was originally truly inspring ends up being mediocre at best. Many songs that I have introduced to the band have not stood the test of time, forcing me to rewrite it or to altogether abandon it. Monte ends up leaving the adventures from the page and is drawn to a real-life adventure with a shady, yet generous character named Glendon Hale.
Glendon is the romantic, archetypal cowboy who is looking to win back the love of his wife back in Mexico. Monte follows him on his travels. Since we incorporated a lead singer into the band, I have become intrigued by the story of the band and the appeal of the singer than with writing new material. Actually, I’m still writing songs, but they are informed by the presence of someone who might be singing lead or harmony. This may help me get out my own sophomore slump and help revive some of the old songs. Enger must have done a lot of thinking on writing itself and on its many forms. I quite enjoy the short chapters in the book as they read like individual blog posts. That was definitely a conscious decision on the author’s part with the short attention span of the current culture.
I look forward to the summer read and hopefully I will blog about it some more when I finish the novel. My recent study of Robertson Davies’ novel Fifth Business has helped me to understand more about archetypes, and I think the character of the reluctant Glendon Hale is a refreshing take on the mystique of the cowboy. It hasn’t been your typical shoot em up Western a la Louis L’amour, and I like how those motifs are in the fringes of the story. There is also a strong spiritual theme of forgiveness and grace that is emerging in the story, which is contrasted nicely with the more rugged themes of the Old West. I think Leif Enger has beaten the sophomore slump and he is an author to watch out for in the coming years..
